For all candidates above, we assume they are running for president in 2012. There is no legal obligation at any time during 2011 to actually file papers nor make any form of announcement. Hence candidates do so primarily for publicity purposes.

EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE: Candidates use the term "exploratory committee" to indicate they are still at a tentative stage of preparation. An "exploratory committee" is a kind of campaign committee which allows donations while "testing the waters", without the full disclosure rules of a campaign committee. They are legally the same thing -- organizations formed to allow collecting donations for a campaign.

DRAFT COMMITTEE: A draft committee is a political campaign committee formed without the authorization of the candidate, for the purpose of building a campaign network prior to any candidacy announcement, or to persuade the candidate to announce. They are grassroots organizations, usually, formed to publicize a potential candidacy.

POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES: Many candidates form PACs for the purpose of collecting donations to redistribute to other candidates (and to publicize the candidate doing the redistribution). PACs legally differ from campaign committees because they are (in theory) not focused on a campaign. Nevertheless, they are sometimes a good indication that a candidate plans to run.

CANDIDACY PAPERS: Candidates must file legal paperwork with the FEC for either of the above types of committees. This paperwork is public, so the press reports when a new campaign committee is formed.

CANDIDACY ANNOUNCEMENT: There is no legal meaning to "announcing" a candidacy, and typically candidates "announce" as often as possible. The press reports heavily on the first announcement, although candidates recognize that and try to get more than one "first" announcement. This election cycle includes numerous pre-announcements such as announcing formation of an exploratory committee; announcing a timeline for creating an exploratory committee; and announcing the candidacy itself.

PRE-CANDIDACY BOOK: A good indication of planning a presidential run is writing a book. Books by politicians are ostensibly about one's views on an issue or on politics in geenral, but in reality serve to introduce the public to the candidate and to get one's issue stances on the record. We list many such books below, and we will excerpt them in advance of the 2012 campaign.

NOTE: We will stop updating the news reports once the campaign season gets "officially" underway.
For more recent news, click on our Recent News Page.
And for more recent excerpts from each candidate, click on their individual links above.